A Sterile Flower Redux
Having thought long and hard about the closing view we have of Sonya at the end of Tolstoy's novel, War and Peace, I find myself foaming at the mouth ... yet again! I know I mentioned this very briefly in my previous rant on the subject, but I would like to scream it out from the rafters yet again: by the epilogue, the Rostovs' finances are on the mend, and Natasha, having married Pierre, is sitting on piles and piles of wealth. Are we seriously expected to believe they couldn't spare a modest dowry for Sonya?
No one is saying they need to give the poor woman her weight in gold, but, surely, providing her with enough that a marriage to a minor official or neighbouring minor landowner should not be a strain on the family finances.
Instead, we get Natasha acting like Sonya is made out of cardboard and doesn't have the depth of feeling any other human would. And we get Marya resenting the women who was given no choice whatsoever in the matter. Now, Tolstoy would say Sonya's fate is owing to her lack of inner fire. But this is the same man who began his married life by giving his young bride a journal detailing his personal debauchery. I think it's safe to say what he defines as "inner fire" is, in fact, a spate of unfiltered narcissistic selfishness. And aside from that, what exactly did Marya do different to get Nikolai? Nothing! The author likes her, so she gets a happy ending. The author dislikes Sonya, so she gets to be unhappy and ignored. I won't speculate on why. I think we all know why. My point is, it would have cost Tolstoy less than nothing to give Sonya some dignity. And he didn't.
